Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity, without any of the distinctions mentioned in article 2 and without unreasonable restrictions : Denying children the right to vote on basis of age and incompetence is not generally considered an "unreasonable restriction". Basically, ...

There's relative poverty, absolute poverty and happiness - and the connections between the three need to be carefully untangled. If these tribes are not getting enough calories/vitamins/water/shelter to be in good health then they are in absolute poverty. Presumably almost everyone living in absolu...

We don't need to get rid of every corporation, just getting rid of a good chunk of them would go a long way towards removing their undue influence on society and government. But it seems to me you're getting rid of the least harmful cooperations and leaving those most likely to influence the govern...

Now I expect America could certainly force whatever result they want from this but I'd be concerned about the longterm consequences of this. The Chinese people are clearly committed to not backing down on this and it's allowed all sorts of historical hatred to boil over. If America decides to pull t...

Fried feta cheese with some watermelon, mint and (if you're feeling it) thinly sliced red onion and a splash of balsamic vinegar tastes amazing. Had it in Greece and I've been looking forward to having the chance to try making it myself for a while.

Frankly I find that article to be wilfully and negligently deceptive to an extent that puts the lives of people suffering from weight-related health issues at clear risk. Energy in < energy out = weight loss, bro Here's a meta-study compiling the results of 15 scientific studies. http://www.benthams...

Well the three classic big income careers (Doctors, Lawyers and Investment Bankers) tend to work very very long hours, often late into the night. If you just want staying up late then I think medicine probably takes the cake. From reading the AMA Safe Hours significant numbers of medical practitione...

I can't say that I've felt any 'sense of doom' and in fact I feel hugely optimistic about the future. People are living longer than ever before (more than half of children born today will live past 100) and we've a far greater quality of life, the internet is bringing people across the world togethe...

and if the dell website can tell me if this ram is not compatible with that chassis, it can probably warn me if two drugs are going to interact with each other. Or simply get this system to doctors themselves, so that when they make a prescription, a red flag would come up pointing out a possible n...

So what about the destruction of many Roman, and earlier, buildings by the British. While I regret the loss of valuable cultural artifacts and the historical knowledge that comes with them, I would argue that the people of Britain had the right to use Roman buildings to build their own structures a...

I hope this question doesn't sound too dumb but why doesn't the government simply keep the shares? Or on a broader scale, why doesn't the government invest in the stock market more than they already do? I would've thought that the income from dividends in the future would be extremely valuable in th...

the foreign country has commited some of, if not the, most vile actions history has ever seen. Couldn't let that go without calling it out as truly and completely absurd. The British Empire was close to, if not, the most beneficial empire for the subjects they ruled over, this is clear from even a ...

Because of studies like this one , in which questions like "would you force a woman to have sex" get twice as many Yes answers as "would you rape a woman". Interesting study that. Particularly the conclusion "preventing rape may be tantamount to revamping a significant prop...

Incarceration has repeatedly proven to be a deeply flawed punishment but I'm not sure whether flogging is the right alternative. It is not that I have any objection on moral grounds, I believe it will be of limited effectiveness. Despite the apparent success of Singapore's criminal justice system, t...

I don't think the state should provide such a surgery for prisoners but I do believe they should provide it for normal citizens under a national health service. Were Ophelia to be released I also believe the state should pay for the operation then (perhaps shortly before her release to here adjusst).

After reading Podbaydoor's and everyone else who responded to my last post I have to agree that they're right and the "How to protect yourself from RAPE" message is greatly over-emphasised at the cost of the "Don't rape" message. I suppose one of the reasons I objected to the &qu...

I'm glad such a politically respectable group is saying what seems so obvious but I'm deeply disappointed in all the governments which have flat out said they're going to ignore the report. I've read statements from the US, UK and Aus governments calling the report misguided without any consideratio...

Interesting idea but I don't think it's likely to do anything. They've made a fluffy idealistic law with good motives but it appears to lack specifics. A law can say that companies need to respect Mother Earth if they don't provide specific examples of what that means, what behaviors are prohibited ...

Because it's coming from a standpoint of "Rape would stop if people knew how to defend themselves" which is flawed. Rape will stop when people stop raping. Our primary deterrents to murder, theft, violence and so on are culturally seen as legal measures and secondarily as personal respons...

And here's my reply to Monica's points So, my view why US schools are significantly worse than e.g. German ones. So, what *is* wrong with US schools? - Expectations are low and tests are simple. Really, it's pretty obvious to anyone who has attended schools here and there. Number 1 reason for all pr...

You raise some interesting points Monica so I thought I'd through in my perspective. Australian schools are supposedly some of the best in the world, ranking above Germany for example in the PISA tests and tied for world first in the UN Education Index. I've never been convinced how accurate those a...

Rape legal in NYC if the prosecution can't prove mens rea and actus reus beyond reasonable doubt FTFY Seriously though, I think the justice system acted appropriately. On the topic of how blacking out affects consent, I believe one can be perfectly in control of their body (and thus able to consent...

Thought I might as well throw in an interesting fact I just read, in Australia the typical minimum wage worker is in a middle-class household. Having thought about the points people have raised I now realise what I couldn't quite put my finger one before, I support a minimum wage because I believe t...

I wish the parents had (and believe they should ) let some tests be run on the children, I think some of the results while the children are still developing could be extremely valuable, but certainly don't think they should be forced into it. I'm sure the tests could easily be done in a comfortable ...

I don't think they had to do much to "corrupt" the Koran. The book as-is is very black-and-white about the fact that we are infidels and they should kill us. I take it you don't know what you're talking about? "Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorous...

I did NOT design it for the purpose of actually shooting someone, it's simply designed to accelerate a (admittedly lethal) projectile to a certain velocity. I've been arguing from the start that the designer must consider how likely his weapon is to be used for an unintended purpose. Oh and it was ...

But isn't it a bigger jump (and thus provide more moral padding in a sense) to go from turning screws to killing, than it is to go from Killing-A to Killing-B I agree that it's a bigger jump but I still see it as co-opting a tool for a purpose not intended by it's designer. In my opinion this 'bigg...

I don't see anything wrong with this, the city is simply taxing people who will be using it's facilities. I'm interested in your views on sales taxes. If someone spends a holiday in Australia they will be paying the GST (a value-added tax) on anything they purchase but they aren't represented in par...

I think that the person who invented the screwdriver is an innocent and is not responsible for someone using his/her rigid, elongated, tapered spike to stab somone in the head. But a weapon designer isn't designing a technology that can be coopted by another person and weaponized...they are weaponi...

Oh and I've got another futuristic story (to me at least) I'm spending this year travelling the world and started my trip from Australia a few weeks ago. I chose my seats, checked-in and downloaded a pdf of my tickets over the internet on my laptop as I drove to the airport. I hadn't booked in advan...

I seem to remember hearing that the London hackspace people have used their 3D printer to make spare parts for their 3D printer... Not sure about them but making self-replicating machines is one of the goals of the RepRap project, an open-source attempt at designing a 3-d printer able to print itse...

Personally, I don't care about a politician's personal or sex life as long as it's not a) illegal and/or b) hypocritical. The former is pretty self-explanatory, and the latter's fairly simple - if a politician spends a vast amount of time extolling "family values" yet is cheating on their...

From the OP's post it really doesn't seem as though he's asking whether reality is "left-biased" so much as is the 'left-wing' view more correct, bias is "an inclination to present or hold a partial perspective at the expense of (possibly equally valid) alternatives" which can't ...

Let's have a thought experiment. In both those scenarios the weapon ultimately does more harm than good but that was not the intent of the designer and I believe intent matters. I could murder someone with a screwdriver, does that mean the creation of screwdrivers was 'evil'? Surely it's not becaus...

I think the radical tipping point will be when internet bandwidth is reliable and fast enough for real-time, long-period video and sound. The moment that happens, video calls will be as reliable as telephone and face-to-face meetings. From my experience we're definitely there already. I've recently...